A technical problem exists when using printing plates to convey encoded signals onto substrates, especially when multiple different printing plates are involved in printing a design, and even more especially when printing designs across product family members, which may share common color separations or printing plates. Consider the following example.
A retail product design family may include, e.g., a family of dish soaps, which include related designs, with some design elements being identical and others being unique. For example, a background color across the family design may include a design element in a Cyan color channel that doesn't change from family member to family member. Yet, each family member may include other design elements that are unique (e.g., color changes to reflect dish soap fragrance or additives or cleaning ability). In this dish soap example, a printing house or print operator may realize an advantage by reusing the common Cyan design element printing plate across the entire family. If the common printing plate is manufactured based on a first design file, with a first (1st) encoded signal represented in the first design file, then each package printed with this printing plate will include the first encoded signal in the common plate area (e.g., background). But if each family member includes a unique Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) developed by GS1 (or other identifier) to represent that it's unique within the family, and other printing plates are manufactured for these unique design elements and unique GTINs, each family member will include different encoded signals, e.g., a second (2nd) encoded signal. So a package printed with the common Cyan plate (including the 1st encoded signal) and a unique family plate (e.g., including the 2nd encoded signal) will have at least two conflicting codes printed thereon (1st and 2nd encoded signals).
Two (2) conflicting codes within a design can be catastrophic for a retailer (e.g., a grocer) and consumer. For example, at checkout, a consumer could be charged for two items when scanning just a single product. If using an inventory system, two different items will be effected with a scan when only one should be effected.
We've developed methods, apparatus, articles of manufacture and systems to help identify such printing plate or design layer reuse and/or misuse, e.g., see the disclosure of the verification logos or icons (also called “control icon(s)”) in Section V, below.
Portions of this disclosure are described in terms of, e.g., encoded signals for digital designs, product packaging (sometimes just referred to herein as “packaging” or “package”) and other objects such as hang tags and product labels. These encoding techniques can be used, e.g., to alter or transform how color inks are printed on various physical substrates. The alterations or transformations preferably result in a printed design carrying machine-readable indicia on a surface of a physical object.
Various forms of signal encoding (or “embedding”) include, e.g., “steganographic encoding” and “digital watermarking.” Digital watermarking is a process for transforming physical or electronic media to embed a machine-readable code (or “auxiliary data”) into the media. In some cases the media is modified such that the embedded code is obscured, yet may be detected through an automated detection process. Digital watermarking is often applied to electronic or physical objects such as printed objects, images, audio signals, and video signals. However, it may also be applied to other types of objects, including, e.g., product packaging, electronics such as circuit boards and CPUs, stickers, logos, product hang tags, line-art, software, multi-dimensional graphics models, and surface textures of such objects.
In this document we use the terms “digital watermark” and “watermark” (and various forms thereof) interchangeably.
Auxiliary data embedding systems typically include two components: an encoder (or embedder) that embeds the auxiliary signal in a host image or object, and a decoder (or detector) that detects and reads the embedded auxiliary signal from the host image or object. The encoder may embed the auxiliary signal by altering or transforming a host image or object to carry the auxiliary data. The detection component analyzes a suspect image, object or signal to detect whether an auxiliary signal is present, and if so, extracts or reads information carried in it.
Several particular digital watermarking and auxiliary data embedding techniques have been developed. The reader is presumed to be familiar with the literature in this field. Particular techniques for embedding and detecting imperceptible digital watermarks are detailed in the assignee's patent documents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,054,461, 7,286,685, 9,129,277, 9,380,186, 9,401,001 and 9,449,357, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/725,399 (published as US 2016-0275639 A1), Ser. No. 14/724,729 (published as US 2016-0217547 A1), and Ser. No. 14/842,575, filed Sep. 1, 2015 (published as US 2017-0004597 A1); and International Application No. PCT/US2015/44904, filed Aug. 12, 2015 (published as WO 2016025631 A1). Related technology is detailed in Assignee's U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/073,483 (published as US 2016-0275326 A1). Each of the patent documents mentioned in this paragraph are hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, including all drawings and any appendices.
One aspect of the disclosure to address the above technical problem of printing plate mismatch is a method comprising: obtaining a substrate including a control icon printed thereon, the control icon comprises a design printed in each of at least a first color channel, a second color channel, and a third color channel, the design comprising a plurality of design elements, the plurality of design elements comprising a central element, a rotation indicator, and a plurality of registration indicators, in which the rotation indicator includes an orientation associated with a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), and in which the design is spatially registered across the first color channel, second color channel and third color channels to form the control icon when printed; evaluating the control icon to determine if the printed control icon comprises more than one (1) observable rotation indicator, said evaluating yielding a determination; and identifying a printing plate mismatch based on the determination.
This method may include the first color channel comprising Cyan, the second color channel comprising Magenta and the third color channel comprising Yellow, the design printed in a fourth color channel comprising black, and in which the design is spatially registered across the first color channel, second color channel, third color channel and fourth color channel to form the control icon when printed. The rotation indicator may include a numerical digit between 0 and 9, and includes a predetermined rotation associated with the numerical digit, and the plurality of registration indicators comprises dashes or line segments, in which the rotation indicator is positioned within the central shape and the numerical digit is positioned within the rotation indicator.
Another aspect of the disclosure is a substrate for a retail package, hang tag or label, the substrate comprising: a barcode including a check digit; a printed control icon, the control icon comprising a design printed with each of four (4) ink separations, the design comprising a plurality of design elements, the plurality of design elements comprising a central element, a rotation indicator corresponding to the check digit, a plurality of registration indicators, the four (4) ink separations comprising a Cyan (C) color channel, a Magenta (M) color channel, a Yellow (Y) color channel and a Black (K) color channel; in which the control icon indicates a printing plate mismatch when it comprises more than one (1) observable rotation indicator.
Yet another aspect of the disclosure is a method of detecting printing plate misuse, on a printing press having a plurality of printing plates configured to carry an encoded signal. The method includes: obtaining a verification icon comprising a plurality of design elements, with a first design element carried in a Cyan (C) color channel, a second design element carried in Magenta (M) color channel, a third design element carried in a Yellow (Y) color channel and a forth design element carried in a Black (K) color channel, the first design element, second design element, third design element and forth design element, cooperating when printing to produce the verification icon; obtaining Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black printing plates; using the printing plates, printing the verification icon on a substrate to yield a printed verification icon; and evaluating the printed verification icon to determine if an orientation of the first design element, second design element, third design element and forth design element comprise a predetermined orientation arrangement, in which a deviation from the predetermined orientation arrangement indicates a printing plate misuse or reuse.
Still another aspect of the disclosure is a method including: providing a verification icon, the verification icon comprising a plurality of design elements, with a first design element carried in a Cyan (C) color channel, a second design element carried in Magenta (M) color channel, a third design element carried in a Yellow (Y) color channel and a forth design element carried in a Black (K) color channel, the first design element, second design element, third design element and forth design element contributing to the verification icon; assigning a first orientation of the verification icon to a first product family member; assigning a second orientation of the verification icon to a second product family member; assigning a third orientation of the verification icon to a third product family member; assigning a forth orientation of the verification icon to a forth product family member; from a verification icon printed on a white substrate, determining a printing plate misuse or reuse based on an orientation of at least one of the first design element, second design element, third design element or forth design element.
Another aspect includes a method of determining a printing plate inconsistency. The method includes: generating a pseudo-random noise pattern; representing the pseudo-random noise pattern in a first set of color channels through modifying data representing the first set of color channels, in which the modifying introduces a first modification polarity in each color channel of the first set of color channels; representing the pseudo-random noise pattern in a black color channel through modifying data representing the black color channel, in which the modifying introduces a second modification polarity in the black color channel that is inversely related to the polarity of the first modification polarity; spatially aligning the pseudo-random noise pattern in the first set of color channels and the pseudo-random noise pattern in a black color channel such that luminance or chrominance attributable to the pseudo-random noise pattern in the first set of color channels offsets or reduces luminance or chrominance attributable to the pseudo-random noise pattern in a black color channel, in which the spatial aligning in is the form of text or a 1D or 2D symbology.
Still another aspect includes a method of detecting printing plate misuse, on a printing press having a plurality of printing plates configured to carry an encoded signal, the method including: obtaining a design comprising a plurality of design elements, the plurality of design elements comprising a central shape, a version indicator, an alpha-numerical digit, and registration indicators, the design being provided in a Cyan (C) color channel, a Magenta (M) color channel, a Yellow (Y) color channel and a Black (K) color channel, in which when the CMYK color channels are combined, the designs spatially align to form a control icon to detect printing plate misuse; obtaining Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black printing plates; using the printing plates, printing the designs on a substrate to yield a printed control icon; evaluating the printed control icon to determine if the printed control icon comprises more than one (1) observable version indicators or more than one (1) observable alpha-numerical digits, said evaluating yielding a determination; and identifying a printing plate misuse based on the determination.
In some instances, the central shape comprises a circle, and the version indicator comprises a dot, and a gap in the circle. The registration indicators may also include a plurality of line segments. The design may also include an orientation guide, with the orientation guide being positioned relative to the alpha-numerical digit. The orientation guide may include an underline below the alpha-numerical digit.
Another aspect of the disclosure is a method of detecting a printing plate inconsistency, said method includes: obtaining a substrate including a control icon printed thereon, the control icon comprises a design printed in each of a Cyan (C) color channel, a Magenta (M) color channel, a Yellow (Y) color channel and a Black (K) color channel, the design comprising a plurality of design elements, the plurality of design elements comprising a central shape, a version indicator, an alpha-numerical digit, and registration indicators, in which the design is spatially registered across the CMYK color channels to form the control icon when printed; evaluating the control icon to determine if the printed control icon comprises more than one (1) observable version indicator or more than one (1) observable alpha-numerical digit, said evaluating yielding a determination; and identifying a printing plate misuse based on the determination.
Yet another aspect includes a substrate for a retail package, hang tag or label, the substrate including: an ink control strip printed in a trim area or fold area; a control icon printed adjacent to the ink control strip, the control icon comprising a design printed with each of four (4) ink separations, the design comprising a plurality of design elements, the plurality of design elements comprising a central shape, a version indicator, an alpha-numerical digit, and registration indicators, the four ink separations comprising a Cyan (C) color channel, a Magenta (M) color channel, a Yellow (Y) color channel and a Black (K) color channel; an encoded signal carried by at least the Cyan (C) color channel; in which the control icon indicates a printing plate misuse or reuse when it comprises more than one (1) observable version indicator, or more than one (1) observable alpha-numerical digit.
Still another aspect of the disclosure includes a method of detecting a printing plate inconsistency. The method comprising: obtaining a substrate including a control icon printed thereon, the control icon comprises a design printed in each of at least a first color channel, a second color channel, and a third color channel, the design comprising a plurality of design elements, the plurality of design elements comprising a rotation indicator, a separation structure a product or package identifier, an orientation structure, and a plurality of registration indicators, in which the design is spatially registered across the first color channel, second color channel and third color channels to form the control icon when printed; evaluating the control icon to determine if the printed control icon comprises more than one (1) observable rotation indicator or more than one (1) observable separation structure, said evaluating yielding a determination; and identifying a printing plate misuse based on the determination.
In some implementations, the rotation indicator comprises numerical digits between 01 and 60, the separation structure comprises a cutout structure, the orientation structure comprises an alpha-numeric digit, and the plurality of registration indicators comprises dashes or line segments.
Further aspects, features and advantages will become even more apparent with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.